A small mission for in situ exploration of a primitive binary near-Earth asteroid

We present a concept for a challenging in situ science mission to a primitive, binary near-Earth asteroid. A sub-400-kg spacecraft would use solar electric propulsion to rendezvous with the C-class binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3. A campaign of remote observations of both worlds would be followed by landing on the ∼1 km diameter primary to perform in situ measurements. The total available payload mass would be around 34 kg, allowing a wide range of measurement objectives to be addressed. This mission arose during 2004 from the activities of the ad-hoc Small Bodies Group of the DLR-led Planetary Lander Initiative. Although the particular mission scenario proposed here was not studied further per se, the experience was carried over to subsequent European asteroid mission studies, including first LEONARD and now the Marco Polo near-Earth asteroid sample return proposal for ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme. This paper may thus be of interest as much for insight into the life cycle of mission proposals as for the concept itself.     

Image based control of the “PINOCCHIO” experimental free flying platform

A free floating platform is realized with a pneumatic suspension system which enables a two-dimensional test of complex space operations, such as rendezvous and docking. The platform is equipped with a IMU and actuated via cold gas thrusters. In addition, an on-board camera is used to acquire a target and its image is processed for evaluating the control actions needed to reach it. A technique for determining the relative position and velocity with respect to target using the same visual device is proposed and realized. The novel algorithms and relevant experimental results are presented. The tested accuracy of the relative navigation system is not very high, but the guidance algorithm, which is image based and has just a weak dependence on the position information, is robust enough to perform a successful maneuver. The error between the final acquired target image and the desired final target image is of the order of one pixel, notwithstanding all the testbed disturbances.     

A language based on analogy to communicate cultural concepts in SETI

The present paper is a synthesis of three presentation given by myself at the Toulouse IAC 2001 (Analogy as a tool to communicate abstract concepts in SETI), the Bremen IAC 2003 (From maths to culture: towards an effective message), and the Vancouver IAC 2004 (Philosophical and religious implications of extraterrestrial intelligent life). Its aim is to find a way to make our cultural concepts understandable to hypothetical extraterrestrials (ETs) in a SETI communication. First of all, I expose the reasons why I think that analogy could be a good tool for this purpose. Then, I try to show that this is possible only in the context of an integrated language, using both abstract symbols and pictures, also sketching two practical examples about some basic concepts of our moral and religious tradition. Further studies are required to determine whether this method could be extended to the higher-level abstract concepts in the other fields of our culture. Finally, I discuss the possible role of mathematics, logic and natural science in the construction of an analogy-based language for interstellar messages with a cultural content and a possible way of managing this matter from a social point of view.     

Optimum parameter for estimating phase fluctuations on transionospheric signals at high latitudes

Transionospheric radio signals may experience fluctuations in their amplitude and phase due to irregularity in the spatial electron density distribution, referred to as scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation is responsible for transionospheric signal degradation that can affect the performance of satellite based navigation systems. Usually, the scintillation activity is measured by means of indices such as the normalised standard deviation of the received intensity S₄ and the standard deviation of the received phase σ_? typically calculated over 1 min of data. Data from a GPS scintillation monitor based on 50 Hz measurements recorded at Dirigibile Italia Station (Ny-Alesund, Svalbard), in the frame of the ISACCO project ( De Franceschi et al., 2006) are used to investigate possible adoption of an alternative parameter for the estimate of phase fluctuations: i.e., the standard deviation of the phase rate of change S_?. This parameter is shown to better correlate with S₄ being much less detrending dependent than σ_?. The couple (S₄, S_?) should be then considered a more physical proxy of radio scintillation than the couple (S₄, σ_?).